Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
By ANGELA K. BROWN
Published on 6/5/2004
Kennedale, Texas — Patrons of the XXX Super Store and the Fantasy Foxx strip club have been getting a souvenir in the mail recently: an I-know-where-you've-been postcard emblazoned with a photo of the customer's car parked outside one of the adult businesses.
The card reads: “Observed you in the neighborhood. Didn't know if you were aware there is a church in the area.”
Oakcrest Family Church pastor Jim Norwood and his followers have been snapping the pictures and mailing out the cards over the past six months or so — a campaign that helped Norwood get elected mayor of this Fort Worth suburb last month with 66 percent of the vote.
“Anybody that knows me will say that my heart is to try to help these people,” said Norwood, 56. “But if all of these places close up, that's not a problem with me.”
Norwood said he was fed up with finding porno magazines, condoms and drug needles in the church parking lot, situated around the corner from some of Kennedale's sex clubs and stores.
Many residents say more than half a dozen adult businesses in a town of 6,100 people is too many. But some don't agree with Norwood's approach.
“That's borderline invasion of privacy,” said machinist William Pratt, who did not vote for Norwood. “It's their right to go there.”
One man who declined to give his name before going into Showtime Cabaret said he had never received a postcard but would angrily throw it away if one came in the mail. He said he goes to the topless bar a few times a month and has no plans to stop.
Those who own the adult businesses and their attorneys declined to comment on what effect Norwood's crusade was having on their bottom line.
Kennedale resident Billy Simpson, who sells antique cars, said he doubts porn patrons will stop going to the strip clubs and video stores or that the businesses will close.
“Nobody in town wants them there, but they're not leaving because they still have customers,” Simpson said. “There's usually a fair amount of cars in the parking lot.”
The picture-taking idea stemmed from Norwood's work as a chaplain in jails, where sex offenders told him their problems may not have escalated if their wives or girlfriends had found out about their addiction to porn, he said.
Norwood said porn and drugs were part of his “wild days” in the 1960s and ‘70s but that his lifestyle hurt his relationship with his children, so he became a Christian.
He and a few church members, digital camera in hand, take turns staking out the businesses about once a week. Then they go online to find the owner's name and address from license plate records, which are public in Texas.
They have mailed more than 300 postcards — most to Dallas and other nearby towns — that include an invitation to attend church services or counseling classes for sex, drug and alcohol addictions. About a dozen porn patrons have called the church seeking help, according to Norwood.
“They have realized the devastation that it's had on their life and their relationships, and they're looking to get counseling as a way to heal or way to get out of what they're trapped in,” Norwood said.
Mark Wright, who served as mayor for six years, does not dispute he lost the election, in part, to Norwood's crusade. But he said the city was already trying to run the clubs out of town, using zoning ordinances.
“It's not a few shots of license plates that's going to shut them down,” Wright said.
For years the adult businesses operated off Interstate 20 in an unincorporated part of the county. The area was annexed by Kennedale in 1999, and the shops became subject to a city ordinance that bans sexually oriented businesses within 800 feet of houses, parks, schools and churches.
One strip club and a bookstore have agreed to leave town by August, according to the town.
Theresa Petersen, who manages a mobile home park, believed so much in what Norwood was doing that she helped him campaign for mayor.
Peterson said she and her husband frequented the sexually oriented businesses years ago when they used drugs. But the couple have been clean for three years and now attend Norwood's church.
“The other city officials don't seem to care, and they think this side of Kennedale doesn't matter,” Petersen said. “I believe Jim is going to make a difference in our town.”
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
The area clubowners and dancers should organize a little "visit" to this pastor's church on sunday morning ... in barely street legal "costumes" ! This might send a message in the opposite direction (or at least change the subject of the pastor's sunday sermon LOL). Borderline invasion of privacy works both ways !
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
It's rather funny that the same people who want to take pictures of others doing legal acts are often the same people who cry "Big Brother" about radar and stoplight cameras that are only triggered by illegal acts.
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
Yet another political/religous witch hunt >:(
Everytime I hear about these kinds of people I think of the Jim Baker scandal ::)
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
LOL Melonie! I fully agree! I'd be there in my MOST outrageous outfit. HAHAHAH
And Jason I'm with ya.
This crap really pisses me off. As if the adult businesses are the cause of condoms and needles being strewn in the church parking lot. THAT is most likely coming from the teenagers who have nothing to do in that crappy little town but get in trouble on a Friday night.
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
I'm christian, too. Surprisingly enough, when I walk into the club my feet don't automatically catch fire. Sorry about all that crap in your parking lot, Pastor Norwood. My bad.
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
In all seriousness Melonie, that should happen. Us dancers are too passive when it comes to these issues.
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
THANK god I live in Canada. That is the most ridiculous thing that i've ever heard!!! AND the citizens actually elected him! I have no problem with anyone's religious beliefs, as long as they don't infringe upon my own...and getting a postcard in the mail that anyone in my house could read is not only creepy, but definitely a violation of one's privacy. They should be putting this guy away, not making him mayor of a municipality.
YIKES
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
Texas/ the "bible belt" is one strange area. I live in Houston and remember ads before the election last year slandering some guy for attending strip clubs. I don't know if he was defeated (probably was), but I hate people who try to force their beliefs, what ever they are, on other people. A Jesus Crispy could harrass everyone on the streets, trying to get people to join their churches, but if I were to spread stuff about Atheism or Wikken, I'd probably be put in jail...
I remember as a kid going trick or treating on Halloween and some people would give out little bibles instead of candy in protest of such an evil holiday. I also remember being forced to say schoolwide prayers in elementary school and if I refused to participate, I would get sent to the principles office (I'm 20, so I'm pretty sure school prayer was illegal at the time, but my "Holier than thou" neighborhood never seemed to care)
Re:Pastor Elected Mayor After Photographing Porn-shop Customers' Cars
God this guy really needs to get a life. Send me a postcard, and I'll send one of my costumes to you via UPS. That way you have something to look at and dont have to waste gas and time. What we do is legal, and the fact that he doesnt like it doesnt matter. IF YOU DONT LIKE IT, DONT GO IN!